Crime Lord Returns to Boston to Face Raft of Charges

Saturday

Jun 25, 2011 at 5:08 AM

James “Whitey” Bulger, who terrorized Boston for decades, returned to face charges including complicity in 19 murders.

ABBY GOODNOUGH and KATIE ZEZIMA

BOSTON — James (Whitey) Bulger returned to a fog-shrouded Boston on Friday to face a litany of charges in a courtroom packed with people eager for a glimpse of his infamous face after a 16-year disappearing act.

Though Mr. Bulger, 81, sat quietly through most of the brief proceedings at the heavily guarded federal courthouse, he showed some of his old fire when Magistrate Judge Marianne B. Bowler asked if he could afford a lawyer.

“I could if you gave me my money back,” Mr. Bulger said, prompting titters and gasps in the courtroom. He was apparently referring to the more than $800,000 in cash that was found in the apartment in Santa Monica, Calif., where Mr. Bulger and his girlfriend, Catherine Greig, had been living under assumed names since at least 1996.

Although Ms. Greig, 60, accompanied him on the cross-country flight home, they made separate appearances in the courtroom, their days together over. She is charged with harboring a fugitive; Mr. Bulger is charged with 19 murders, as well as extortion, money laundering and other crimes.

A legendary crime boss who also served as an F.B.I. informant, Mr. Bulger reigned for years as the head of the fearsome Winter Hill Gang before fleeing in 1995, when a retired F.B.I. agent tipped him off about his imminent arrest.

Brian Kelly, a prosecutor with the United States Attorney’s Office, said Mr. Bulger was a danger to the community, might try to threaten witnesses and should be detained.

“He’s also, quite honestly, a risk of flight,” Mr. Kelly said.

Prosecutors also challenged Mr. Bulger’s request for a court-appointed lawyer, pointing to the stash of money found in his apartment. “He clearly didn’t make that on a paper route on Santa Monica Boulevard,” Mr. Kelly said.

Mr. Kelly also suggested that Mr. Bulger’s brother William, a former president of the Massachusetts State Senate, could help him financially.

William Bulger sat in the second row of the courtroom during the proceedings; he smiled slightly when Mr. Bulger, dressed in a white hooded shirt and Levis, nodded toward him but left afterward without comment.

Ms. Greig’s twin sister, Margaret McCusker, sat in the front row.

Mr. Bulger voluntarily consented to detention; he and Ms. Greig are to file financial statements on Monday that will be sealed by the court.

Mr. Bulger appeared relaxed, but Ms. Greig at times seemed uneasy, her voice barely audible as she answered questions from Magistrate Judge Jennifer Boal. At one point, her court-appointed lawyer placed a hand on her shoulder as if to reassure her. A bail hearing for her is set for Thursday.

Mr. Bulger was brought in a motorcade of police cars and S.U.V.’s to the courthouse at 3 p.m.; he left the same way about 5:30 p.m. and was taken to the Plymouth County jail.

The courthouse in South Boston, Mr. Bulger’s old neighborhood, was packed with reporters, curious civilians and members of law enforcement. Court employees jammed into the courtroom, a group of them playing hangman to pass the time before Mr. Bulger and Ms. Greig were brought in. Outside, Coast Guard boats with mounted guns patrolled, keeping pleasure craft away.

Families of Mr. Bulger’s alleged victims sat in the first two rows and intently watched the proceedings. Afterward, Thomas Donahue, the son of Michael Donahue, who was allegedly killed by Mr. Bulger as he gave a friend a ride home in 1982, said seeing Mr. Bulger had filled him with rage. Mr. Donahue said Mr. Bulger deserved to die in the electric chair. “Believe me,” he said. “I’m an electrician. I know.”

He added, “It was a sickening feeling in my stomach seeing him, the guy who murdered my father.”

His mother, Patricia Donahue, said she would rather see Mr. Bulger spend the rest of his life in prison. She was surprised, she added, that Mr. Bulger appeared “meek.”

“He just seemed so frail to me,” Mrs. Donahue said. “I thought he’d be a man in shape.”

Thomas Duffy, a retired state police major who worked on the Bulger case for more than a decade — before and after he fled — came to court on Friday to see the case through. “It’s a day I’ve waited for for a long time,” Major Duffy said. “He’s where he belongs. He’s going to be prosecuted. He belongs in custody.”

After Mr. Bulger was led out of Courtroom 10 in handcuffs, Major Duffy said that he looked to be calm and in good health.

“He seemed very composed and respected the magistrate’s questions,” Major Duffy said.

Rich Downey, 50, a salesman from Melrose, Mass., came to the courthouse on a break, hoping to get a seat in Courtroom 10.

“It’s part of the fabric of Boston. He’s been part of the story for decades,” he said. “There’s huge public interest in it and it’s the chance of a lifetime to see it.”

Others, like Richard Cefalo, 53, of Boston, came to take in the scene outside the courthouse, standing in an unseasonably cool drizzle. Mr. Cefalo saw the police boats in the harbor from his nearby apartment and stopped by on his way to dinner.

“It’s quite a bit of celebrity for a criminal,” Mr. Cefalo said. “But around these parts he’s pretty famous, so it doesn’t surprise me.”